Anna Thorvalds Wins Nordic Music Prize
June 05, 2012 at 9:38am
Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir has been awarded the 2012 Nordic Music Prize for her work 'Dreaming', which you can hear a short excerpt of here.
The Nordic Council Music Prize is worth DKK 350,000, and will be awarded to Anna during the Nordic Council Session in Helsinki at the beginning of November. The Nordic Council Music Prize focuses on the performance and creation of music of a high artistic standard. The prize is awarded on alternate years to a piece of music by a living composer and to a small or large ensemble.
This is what the Adjudicating Committee had to say about Anna's work:
'Dreaming opens the sphere of the symphony orchestra in an unusual and innovative way. The beginning and end of the work flow freely without any indication of time, creating a cyclic understanding of time reminiscent of Nordic myths and the mysticism of nature. The music strives to bring the experience of chronological time to a stop - like in dreams.
'In the old Norse sagas people enter into dialogue with nature through dreams. In dreams we use other languages and other senses. Dreams connect night and day, light and dark, and it is in the vision of dreams that people learn about death. The music is sensual and calm, but it can also surprise and be powerful and brutal.
'With Dreaming Anna Thorvaldsdóttir has written herself into the Nordic orchestra tradition which derives its timbres both from electronic music and from the sounds of nature in Nordic folk music. The tones are carefully depicted - almost like small pieces of embroidery. But the work is perhaps particularly unique because it manages to build up and unfold a huge form within a time that seemingly stands still. The work grows on you with every listening, and it makes you curious for more.'
Congratulations Anna!